# What This Bill Does

This bill would prevent states from redrawing their Congressional district lines more than once every ten years. Right now, after the census happens every ten years and Congress reapportions House seats among the states, some states redraw their districts multiple times during that decade. This bill would stop that practice and lock in district lines for the full ten-year period, with only a few exceptions.

The main exception is if a court orders a state to redraw districts because the current maps violate the Constitution or break federal voting rights laws. So if a court finds that districts are unfairly drawn or discriminate against voters, states could still be required to fix them. But otherwise, once a state draws its Congressional districts after the census, those lines would stay in place until the next census ten years later.

# Who This Affects and Why It Matters

This change would primarily affect voters and politicians. Currently, some states use the power to redraw districts mid-decade as a political tool—a party in control of the state legislature can redraw lines to gain an advantage in future elections, a practice called gerrymandering. By locking in districts for ten years, this bill would reduce opportunities for that kind of mid-decade manipulation. However, it wouldn't prevent gerrymandering from happening in the first place, since states could still draw unfair districts initially after the census. The bill only prevents them from redrawing those same districts again before the next census. The bill makes clear it only applies to Congressional districts and doesn't affect how states draw districts for state and local elections.